The huge pandal of a popular Puja mandap along NH-5 at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 7: Police have made arrangements for traffic management during the Durga Puja festivities.

The police have decided to divert heavy vehicles coming from Cuttack and Puri via the new bypass road from Saptasati temple to Lingipur during peak hours.

With a number of Puja pandals located on roadsides in crowded areas of the city and ongoing expansion of the National Highway-5, traffic management will be a major challenge for the police.

In Rasulgarh and Nayapalli, two Puja pandals are located beside the national highway and thousands throng both creating traffic chaos.

“We will divert vehicles on certain routes to avoid congestion near major Puja pandals. Traffic diversion will be enforced on Navami and Dashami,” said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Binod Dash. He also said that the Puja organisers have been asked to create adequate parking lots near the pandals.

The police have asked the Puja organisers to deploy enough volunteers around their pandals to assist the police. Senior police officials said that more than 150 personnel would be deployed for traffic management.

The police will also intensify the drive against illegally parked vehicles. “Two towing vehicles will be with us to deal with such vehicles,” said a police official.

While the city has more than 7.64 lakh vehicles (out of which 80 per cent are two-wheelers), police expect around 40,000 light vehicles to enter the city from Cuttack and Puri during the last three days of Puja. More than 150 Durga Pujas are being organised in the city.

“Traffic snarls have already become a regular affair much before the Puja,” said Harihar Samal, a resident of Chandrasekharpur.